


A Change in The Forest

by UnderGrove



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, FoxHanji, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), PantherLevi, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-13 21:11:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3396464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderGrove/pseuds/UnderGrove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A human by the name of Eren runs into a forest near his village. He meets a man? A cat? Either way this creature named Levi and the human child Eren transform the forest of the unknown into an adventure of tremendous proportions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic. I hope you like it!

Chapter 1

 

I wake from my fitful slumber to the sound of multiple beings yelling. My eyes quickly shake off their blurry sight as I fully awake. I quickly regain my senses and hide deeper into the shrubbery around me.

 

I wait for a few seconds and pinpoint where the voices are coming from. The voices seem to be coming from the right. Moving swiftly, almost soundlessly, I dance around the forest that I know like the back of my hand until I am close enough to see a group of yelling people. A mix of ‘where are you?’ and ‘Eren!’ being yelled.

 

From my hiding space I can see an orange light emitting from their torches.

 

Aside from the yelling, I hear whimpering coming from the tree nearest to me. I quietly sneak up to the trunk of the tree and peer into the hole in the middle of the trunk to find whatever is hiding there.

 

My gaze immediately falls upon a human child. His large turquoise eyes filled with absolute terror, tears threatening to spill over. His chestnut brown hair matted to his forehead with sweat and clothing covered in filth.

 

As soon as he realizes that he’s been caught he opens his mouth to scream. I immediately cover his mouth with my hand. “Shh, you’ll get us caught brat!” I hiss out.

 

Turquoise eyes meet sharp grey eyes. “ _Calm down_. I’m going to take my hand away and you’re _**not**_ going to scream. **_Got it?_** ” I whisper in the child’s ear. The young human child nods slowly. I start to remove my hand and look around focusing on the retreating sound of the yelling beings.

 

“W-what are you?” the kid asks astonished.  The kid’s eyes dart all over my figure. My ears and tail blending in with my raven colored hair. I don’t answer, I just place a finger over my mouth, signaling him to shut up.

 

“Alright kid, we need to get away from here. Follow me.”

 

I start to turn away from the child expecting him to follow, but before I even take two steps the child whimpers out a small, “W-wait”. I peer behind me raising a brow. “I-I can’t walk.” I walk back to the child and examine his feet.

 

His right foot seems to have been cut. I cringe at how muddy his feet are, I sigh, “Ok, I’ll just have to carry you.” I go down to my knees and wait for the kid to climb on. “O-ok,” the child squeaks out.

 

As soon as I feel weight on my back and small arms wrapped around my neck, I shimmy back into the shrubbery and start making my way back home. Following the quickest way back, I reach the river that lead towards home and start hopping from rock to rock, going to the other side. The grip on my neck tightens then loosens once on the other side of the river.

 

The silent trip back home is broken when the kid suddenly speaks. “Mr. where are we going?” the kid speaks with curiosity. Strangely, there is no trace of the fear that radiated off of the kid before. “We’re gonna get you cleaned up,” I said monotonically.

 

The kid hummed in response. Only a couple seconds passed before the child spoke again. “Hey, mister what’s your name? Mine is Eren.”

 

Eren huh? What a strange name. I guess it suits him. I mean if I was a human child who’s being led back to a stranger’s home, I’d be at least a little worried.

 

“Well kid, I’m Levi.”

 

“Levi…,” Eren tested it out and giggled. I turned my gaze towards Eren wondering what he thought was so funny and felt my stomach do a summersault.

 

The smile on the kids face was spread wide, happiness beaming off of him. My breath hitched.

 

“What’s wrong Levi?”

 

I coughed and cleared my throat, “Why are you so happy brat?” Wasn’t he just about to piss his pants back there?

 

“I’m not a brat! I’m 14 and my _name_  is Eren and I’m just happy that you helped me. Well and no one’s ever shown any kindness to me before,” Eren said, but muttered that last part.

 

I was only able to hear it because of my sharp hearing. I didn’t comment on the remark.  “You _are_  a brat. Anyway why were you hiding?” Eren stiffened, his smile turning into a frown, “Umm...Well I was...running away.” I turned to look at Eren with mild curiosity but only showed my usual stoic face.

 

“So that group back there was looking for you? Why are you running away?”

 

Eren starts squirming on my back, “He probably noticed I was gone and sent a search party to look for me.  I-I couldn’t stay there anymore…” It seemed like that was all I was going to get as an answer as to why.

 

“Where were you planning on going once you ran away? You were hiding in a tree, so I’m guessing you didn’t plan that far ahead, did you?” Eren awkwardly laughed, “I don’t have anywhere to go, so I just figured it was better to just get out of there than stay living in that hell.”

  


I looked forward, back onto the path. I kinda feel bad for this kid. If he has nowhere to go then he’ll definitely die within only a few days in this forest. If not by other creatures then by starvation.

 

Ah, God. I’m gonna regret this. “Hey kid, would you like to stay with me? You have nowhere to go and I highly doubt that you’d survive beyond a day or two. Plus, I could use an extra pair of hands around.”

 

Eren pondered it for a moment. He didn’t know anything about Levi.  He was basically a stranger, considering the only thing he knew about him was his name. He felt the need to know more, though. He was saved by Levi, and, anyways, there wasn’t anywhere else to go, so why not?

 

“Yeah, I’d like that, thank you Levi.” Again Levi was practically blinded by the happiness radiating off of Eren.

  


Unbeknownst to the little human child and Levi, this was the start of a brilliant beginning.

  
  
  



	2. Eccentricity In Glasses

 

Chapter 2

Eren still clung to my back. He had fallen asleep a little after our conversation. I could feel little puffs of air against my neck signaling he was sleeping deeply.

 

We weren’t very far from my home now. I picked up the pace once we started passing a familiar bundle of boulders. I was passing through the territory of the fox that dwells here.

 

I tried to get through the fox’s territory in time. I really did, but alas, nothing gets through her. I learned that the hard way.

 

“Levi! Hey Levi!” I sped up my pace even further, ready to bolt at any moment.

 

To my right she was coming at us with the speed of an angry mob.

 

 “Aw, don’t be like that Levi! You know you can’t run away from me,” said a voice.

 

I responded back with, “I can try.”

 

 Eren, who was awoken by Hanji’s antics, started to panic. “Levi, who is that? Should I be concerned since it seems you’re trying to get away from her,” Eren said nervously.

 

I sighed, and began slowing my pace until I turned and started walking towards Hanji.

 

We met halfway, Hanji skipping her way towards us.

 

“Hi Levi! Long time no see,” Hanji said cheerfully.

 

“You visited me just yesterday,” I notified her.” She ignored me to look at Eren with curiosity.

 

“And who is this little sunshine?” Hanji was now only mere inches away from Eren’s face. Her glasses make her look like a mad scientist inspecting a new specimen. “I’m Hanj!”

 

Eren responded with a timid, “Eren,” and curious yet cautious eyes darted over her obvious fox-like features. Ginger-colored ears stood at attention with excitement, while a lighter shade of the color painted her swinging bushy tail.

 

“Well hello there Eren! Now why are you with this grumpy old panther, huh?” Hanji said, while pointing in my direction.

 

“He’s a panther? No wonder he has ears and a tail. I’m guessing you’re a fox then?” Eren said and started to ruffle my ears. It felt really good, like getting a massage, but I’d never admit that. It took all I had to control myself from purring like an absolute idiot.

 

“Oi! Who said you could put your grubby hands on my ears?” I said to Eren.  At this Eren only giggled and gave me one last ruffle before putting his hands back around my neck. “Stop treating me like a pet you brat,” Levi muttered under his breath.

 

I looked back over to Hanji. Her face held an expression of absolute shock and fascination.

 

“How?…Hey Eren, you guys have only known each other for a little while, right? You guys get along so well. It took me weeks to get on this old fart’s good side.” Hanji said, gazing at Eren with amazement practically oozing out of her words.

 

I let out a humorless laugh,”Yeah sure, if getting on my good side means that I can tolerate meetings like this without strangling you.”

 

Hanji gasped with fake hurt, then let out a grin seconds later.

 

Hanji walked up to Eren and whispered in his ear, “ This guy is all bark and no bite. Though you don’t want to get him mad, he can be quite scary. Here’s a little tip. He loves to be pet in between his ears but Mr. Mr. here won’t ever admit it.” She gave Eren a wink before stepping back and humming a cheerful tune.

 

Eren’s lips curved into a sly smirk. I should be worried about that right?

 

I cleared my throat. “Hanji, what are you brainwashing this kid with? You guys better not be teaming up on me. I can barely put up with your shit, how the hell am I gonna handle the both of you ganging up on me?”

 

Hanji had herself a hearty laugh. “This kid could be my partner in crime. What do you say Eren?” Hanji turned towards Eren, but when she did, she saw a pained expression on his face. She bolted straight to his side.

 

“Eren, what’s wrong?” Hanji inspected him thoroughly, and found a gash on his right leg bleeding out. Shit, how the hell did I not notice it sooner? This kid has some pretty high pain tolerance if I couldn’t tell he was in this much pain before.

 

“What the hell are you doing Levi! You’re acting all casual while Eren is in so much pain. Come! I can fix this right up.” Hanji said with finality in her voice.

 

I walked along with Hanji towards her home.

 

“I was going to fix him up you stupid fox, until you came along and delayed us,” I said with irritation coloring my words.

 

“Oh hush. Who knows when I would meet Eren if I hadn’t met him today. You’d probably protect Eren from me like a mother bear.”

  
“Shut it glasses.” I couldn’t really argue with her. I’d have kept Eren from that crazy ass fox for as long as I could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to draw some pictures for some of the scenes of the story. I may or may not keep drawing throughout the story. I'm not the best drawer, but I just wanted to give you guys an Idea of what this world looks like along with the characters.


	3. Hanji's Hovel

Chapter 3

 

The sun setting over the horizon produced a violet and orange blanket over the sky. I guess it’s too late to head home now. Isabel will be fine on her own for one night. The worst thing that could happen is that she’s brought home another “pet” as she’d call it. I call it a mess.

 

Eren has been unconscious for over an hour now. Hanji bandaged up the gash on his right leg as soon as we got to her hovel of a home.

 

It was located at the side of a mountain, inside of a cave.

 

I set him down on a bed made of leaves and dry grass. Not very comfortable, but at least it’s something.

 

The overhang at the entrance of the cave made of wood and huge leaves was just asking to be burnt down. The campfire’s flames were just outside of the cave trying to reach the nearest piece of wood like a child reaching for their mother to carry them.

 

Her home was as messy as ever, even messier than the last time I was here. Papers strewn all around the place along with piles of books that looked like they would fall at any moment, simply by blowing on them.

 

At the end of her cave was a drawing that seemed to be painted on with a red substance. Crushed red berries filled a tiny bowl that was put on the floor right below the drawing. Well, guess that explains it.

 

 It depicts a pair of messily drawn overlapping wings. These wings seem so familiar to me. I’m not really sure why. I know I hadn’t seen these here last time I visited. I don’t remember seeing this anywhere else either. So, why did them seem so familiar?

 

“Hanji, what’s this?” I gestured over to the wings.

 

“Oh! I had a really strange dream as of late. That was the one thing that I could remember from it when I woke up. I’ve been wanting to put something on that wall, so why not them? Don’t they look majestic?”

 

I hummed in agreement.

  
  


“So, tell me how did you find this cutie?” Hanji asked after cleaning off one of her chairs and gestured with a pat for me to sit. She sat on the ground knowing I would never in a million years trust her floor to be even relatively clean, let alone sit on it.

 

“This brat was running away from his village. For what reason? Who knows. He seems uncomfortable to discuss exactly why. Someone in his village apparently sent out a search party to look for him. He just happened to be hiding in a tree near me at the time.” At this explanation Hanji looked over to Eren with a worried expression.

 

“From what he’s told me, it seems he’s running away from someone.” Who could be so horrible to Eren that he felt like he had to escape at such a young age? Eren seems like a happy normal kid, but that can’t really be the case, he was running away for fucks sake. Where were his parents? Did they send that search party to look for him? My thoughts were interrupted by the ruffling of leaves and a soft long yawn.

 

“Where?...Where am I?” Eren said while rubbing sleep from his eyes.

 

“Hey there sleepy head! You’re at my humble abode.” Hanj said while walking over to Eren and ruffling his unkempt hair. As soon as her hand left Eren’s head, he shook it like a dog, making his hair even messier if that was even possible. The hell!? Is he a dog?

  
Now that I think about it...his big puppy dog eyes, chocolate brown hair that makes you want to ruffle it, and his goddamn smile. That lit up expression a dog would have if you showered it with affection. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to draw some pictures for some of the scenes of the story. I may or may not keep drawing throughout the story. I'm not the best drawer, but I just wanted to give you guys an Idea of what this world looks like along with the characters.


	4. No Plan and Shit Scared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting into some Eren POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4

 

I feel terrified. I feel absolutely sick to my stomach.  What the hell am I doing?

 

I knew I couldn’t keep staying there. I couldn’t keep being reminded every. single. day. that it was all my fault.

 

I accepted it long ago, but he couldn’t let it go. He took every chance to remind me that we lost my mother, and to drill in me that it was all my fault.

 

I have no money, nowhere to go.  I just bolted from there like I was being chased by demons. I’m so stupid. I didn’t even think to bring anything with me. Well, it wasn’t like I had many possessions of my own.

 

There was a forest that no one dared to enter. This was my way to freedom, even though I was shit scared of running into a bear or something. So I ran, ran and ran leaving behind a past that would hopefully fade away.

 

After running through the forest for what seemed like forever, I had to find a place to rest for a while. My lungs begged me to just collapse right then and there, but I didn’t want to risk being exposed, especially with wild creatures roaming around the place.

I walked a bit further into the forest looking for a suitable place to rest when suddenly a squirrel chucks a nut at me and bolts from its hiding spot within the tree.

 

I stumble and fall ungracefully, and oh look, just my luck, a sharp stick poking out of the ground creates a painful ass gash on my right leg. Yes, a very painful ass gash.

 

I look up to glare at the squirrel who made me fall, but it’s not there anymore. What I do find is my ticket to a good resting spot and hiding space.

 

The tree the squirrel bolted from bore a huge whole. It was wide enough for me to squeeze through. Being careful, I shimmied my way into the hole and pulled my knees to my chest.

 

The sun would be setting in an hour or two. What was I going to do now? Would I have to learn the ways of surviving in the forest? Would I starve out here all by myself or get eaten by a wild animal?

 

First things first, I have to find berries or kill animals for food. Would I be able to do it though?  Kill an innocent animal? Well I don’t have to worry about that right now. My priority should be to find water. A lake or river should do, I think.

 

While coming up with a plan I nodded off and fell asleep. The only thing that kept me from sleeping any longer was the sound of yelling in the distance.

 

Did he seriously send out a search party?

 

I poked my head out of the tree slightly. I looked around and found the orange glow of torches. Shit, what the hell do I do now?

 

I looked around further, trying to find a way to get far away from here without being visible. When I looked to my right, I could see a shadow moving swiftly through the bushes. Oh no, please don’t let it be a wolf who wants to eat my face off.

 

I furrow back into the tree. I can’t help but let out a whimper of pain from accidentally sitting on my wound and from fear of getting caught. Holy mother of… Quiet, you can’t yell as much as it may hurt. They will hear you and all will go to hell.

 

As soon as the squeel comes out, I slap a hand to my mouth. Fuck, I did not just do that. I did not just kill myself. Please, tell me I didn’t just screw myself over.

 

I hear careful footsteps come toward the tree. I feel tears prickling at my eyes. This is the end, isn’t it? Well, my only regret was not being able to relish in my very short period of freedom.

 

At this thought, the figure peered through the hole. I got ready to scream and try to fight off my attacker. He caught on and put his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming and revealing our position to the search party nearby.

 

The freakish looking man in front of me tells me to stop and calm down. Easier said than done, you asshole. You scared the shit out of me.

 

He removes the hand once he knows I won’t try to scream and when the search party’s voices diminish in volume.

 

When I actually look at the man, he doesn’t seem as scary. Now that I have collected my thoughts, I can see that he appears to be of no threat.

 

His height is about a head shorter than me. He has raven dark hair styled into an undercut, skin white like porcelain. The first thing I notice though is that he has ears and... a tail. Wait, what the fuck?  

 

Is this why no one ever entered the forest? He doesn’t seem too dangerous, considering he hasn’t ripped me to shreds yet. No, I have never seen a wild animal with human-like features, but there is always a first time for everything.

 

He carries me on his back and he takes us further away from the group and deeper into the forest.

 

My rescuer Levi, as I learned, wears a bored expression on his face almost constantly. If you were to see him in a museum, he would pass off as a wax statue due to the lack of emotion on his face.  Kinda creepy if you ask me. The fear I had towards diminished so easily. I wonder why? Hmm, maybe it was the ears. Even now I have the urge to touch them. I don’t think he’d appreciate me touching them though. I bet he might just bite my fingers off.

  
When he offered to help me and let me stay with him I said yes, of course. It’s not like I’m heading to a stranger’s home. Oh no, and it’s not like he could slay me out with those sharp ass nails. No. Ok…  yeah I may be screwed, but I’ll take that chance thank you very much. I can’t go back so I just have to move forward. What could go wrong any way?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I had the most fun drawing this little scene the most, tbh.


End file.
